Sharpening – Stick, 2016

Miami Beach 2016
Sharpening – Stick

Galerie Urs Meile

Wood, black spray lacquer
180.0 x 110.0 x 55.5 (厘米)
70.9 x 43.3 x 21.9 (吋)
Yang Mushi – who graduated in 2014 from the Sculpture Department at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing – works mainly with industrial raw materials such as processed wood, foam and metal. By shaping those materials into sculptural forms, he converts ordinary objects into something violent yet fragile. The three sculptures shown in Kabinett are from the same series, respectively titled Sharpening – Branch (2016), Sharpening – Cube (2016), and Sharpening – Stick (2016). Through a repetitive and long working process, the basic shapes of the wood pieces (branch, cube and stick) are sharpened to different extents into a frigidity of forms. When each of these single dangerous, weapon-like objects come together, however, a quasi-landscape arises. ‘Sharpening’, thus, suggests the artist’s perception of the individual within society. Yang Mushi’s works reflect not only on the problems which have emerged alongside extreme urban development in China, but also the oppression and crises confronting the world at large.